Lint separator and cleaner



LINT SEPARATOR- AND CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED .IULY 5.191s.

' Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

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FRANK WYNNE mnxnns, CHARLES LEMUEL CAMPBELL, AND FRANK I-I. M cswn NY,or

HOUSTON, TEXAS.

LINT SEPARATOR AND CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Application filed July 5, 1918. Serial No. 243,429.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK W. MEYERs, CHARLES L. CAMPBELL, and FRANK H.Mo- SWEENY, all citizens of the United States, and residents ofHouston,in. the county of Harris and State of Texas, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Lint Separators and Cleaners, of which thefollowing is a specification. 7

Our present invention relates gencrallyto cotton apparatus, and moreparticularly to means for separating and cleaning lint cotton andremoving dust and dirt therefrom, our object being the provision of amachine which will continuously operate'to remove dust and dirt fromlint and cotton by the merevintroduction of the cotton thereto with anair blast, and which will handle the cot-- ton without the use ofmovable parts, except for purpose of adjustment, continuouslyin aneffective and eflicientmanner for the intended purposes.

In its specific aspect our invention resides in the details ofconstruction and arrangement to be now described with respect to theaccompanyin drawing, which forms a part of this speci cation and inwhich Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through our improvedmachine, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken Substantially on the line22 'ofFig. 1.

Referring now to these figures, our invention provides a'lint separatingand cleaning apparatus including an upper annular chamber 10 and a lowerannular chamber 11, of which the latter is substantially reduced in sizeas compared to the former and cooperates therewith to receive linttherefrom, the final lint discharge pipe 12 extending from the chamber11 in one direction, and the initial lint intake 13 extending in therelatively opposite direction into the upper por- ,tion of the chamber10. p

The communicating channel 14; connecting the lower portion of thechamber 10 with the upper portion of the chamber 11, which is at oncethe outlet of the chamber 10 and the inlet of the chamber 11, receivesthe lint andafter it has passed downwardly along theperforated wall 15at one side of the chamber 10 subsequent to its introduction therein byany suitable air blast through the intake 13, the dust, dirt, and otherforeign particles being scraped from the lint through the perforate wall15 into the dust and dirt chamber 16 between the inner perforate walland the outer imperforate section 17 of the A wall of the chamber 10,which space 16 communicates at its lower end with the upper end of thedust and dirt discharge pipe 18.

At the receiving end of the communicating channel 14 between thechambers 10 and 11 is pivoted adamper 19 which controls the amount ofair passing into the chamber 11 along with the cotton lint flowing downthe inner surface of the perforate wall 15, the remaining air passing tothe exterior through a centrally disposed outlet tube 20 which openslaterally through one side of the main housing 21 in which the casingsor chambers 10 and 11 are disposed, as particularly seen in Fig. 2. Theadjustingrod 22 connected at one end to the free end of the controllingdamper 19 has its opposite .end extending into the air outlet tube 20 sothat it may be conveniently reached from the exterior for adjusting theposition of the damper and is provided with openings 23 arranged in aseries and through selected 7 openings of which a pin orlike fasteningmember 24; may be extended in order to support the damper 19 in desiredelevation.

The air and partly cleaned lint passing into the chamber 11 through theconnecting channel 14 is forced partly around the chamber against aninner perforate wall 25 and in a direction relatively opposite to thatof its passage along the wall 15 of the chamber 10, or in other words,along a plane the curvature of which is reversed with respect to that ofits plane of movement through the chamber 10.

As in the chamber 10 the perforate wall 25 of the chamber 11 is spacedfrom the adjacent portion 26 of its outer imperforate wall, to, form adust and dirt chamber 27 the lower end ofwhich communicates by means'ofa connecting tube 28 with the dust and dirt discharge pipe 18. I

At the inner end of the cotton lint discharge pipe 12 before mentioned,a damper 29 is pivoted within the low pressure chamber 11, and thisdamper like the damper 19 above described is controlled by an adjust ingrod 30 which extends upwardly into the centrally disposed annular andlateral opening air outlet tube 31 of the chamber, so that it may bejust as conveniently reached as the adjusting rod 22 of thedamper 19,The damper 29. of the chamber controls the amount of air passing withthe cotton lint into the cotton lint discharge pipe 12.

It is obvious that in operation the fact that the lint is forced againstperforate walls successively with a controlled volume of air and theplane of movement of the volume of lint to be cleaned is changed byvirtue of the fact that one of the said walls is reversely curved withrespect to the other will bring about a quick thorough cleaning, and itis further to be observed that effective and efficient results are thusattained with an apparatus which is simple, strong, and durable, andeconomical as to first cost and up-keep.

In practice, our improved machine is installed at the terminus of apneumatic system for collecting and conveying the lint from the lintingmachine to the cotton press, wherein an exhaust fan or fans have thesuction side thereof connected to one or more linting machines and theblast side thereof connected to the inlet 13 of our improved machine.The lint'laden air current thus finds its way into the upper chamber 10and follows the perforated wall 15 to the lint outlet constituted by thechannel 14. The separation of the lint from the air current is caused bythe correct proportioning and construction of the interior of themachine in relation to the volume and velocity of the current ofdischarged lint-laden air entering the machine. The surplus air in uppercylinder 10 escapes through air outlet 20 and a considerable percentageof the dust and dirt in the lint is blown through the perforated wall 15into the dust chamber 16 and is discharged into dust pipe 18. The lintchannel 14 also acts as the inlet into the lower cylinder 11, and thelint. is blown from the upper cylinder into the lower cylinder throughchannel 14 where the motion is reversed and the cleaning and separatingaction is similar to the action in the upper cylinder 10. The lintpasses from the lower cylinder 11 into lint flue 12 and the dust anddirt passes'out of dust outlet 28 into the dust pipe 18. The regulatingdamper 19 and its adjustable locking connection 22, 23 and 24 are forthe purpose of regulating the air blast from the upper cylinder 10 tothe lower cylinder 11. The regulating damper 29 and its adjustablelocking connections 30 are for the purpose of regulating the air blastfrom the lower cylinder 11 into the lint flue 12.

We claim:

1. A cotton lint separating and cleaning apparatus comprising a pair ofchambers, one of which is disposed below the other and connected at itsupper end to the lower end of the upper chamber, the upper chamberhaving a cotton lint intake pipe at its upper end and having an outerimperforate wall, an air outlet, and an inner perforate wall spaced fromthe outer wall and extending around one side thereof opposite the inlet,said lower chamber having an air outlet and an outer imperforate walland being provided with an inner perforate wall extending around oneside thereof in a plane, the curvature of which is reversed with respect to that of the upper chamber, a dirt and dust discharge pipehaving communication with the spaces between the perforate andimperforate walls of the two chambers, and a lint discharge pipe havingconnection with the lower portion of the lower chamber, all for thepurpose described.

2. A cotton lint separating and cleaning apparatus comprising a pair ofchambers, one of which is disposed below the other and connected at itsupper end to the lower end of the upper chamber, the upper chamberhaving a cotton lint intake pipe at its upper end and having an outerimperforate wall, an air outlet, and an inner perforate wall spaced fromthe outer wall and extending .around one side thereof opposite theinlet,

said lower chamber having an air outlet and an outer imperforate walland being provided with an inner perforate wall extending around oneside thereof in a plane, the curvature of which is reversed with respectto that of the upper chamber, a dirt and dust discharge pipe havingcommunication with the spaces between the perforate and imperforatewalls of the upper and lower chambers, and a lint discharge pipe havingconnection with the lower portion of the lower chamber, and dampersadjustable within the upper and lower chambers respectively adjacent thepoints of discharge of the cotton lint to the lower chamber and the lintdischarge pipe.

3. A cotton lint separating and cleaning apparatus, comprising upper andlower chambers and a communicating channel between the lower portionofthe upper chamber and the upper portion of the lower chamber, theupper chamber having an upper lint intake and the lower chamber having alower lint outlet, each of said chambers having an outer imperforatewall at one side and an inner perforate wall spaced from the imperforatewall to form a dust and dirt passage therebetween, the said perforatewalls of the two chambers being curved at opposite sides thereof inrelatively opposite directions, and a dust and dirt discharge pipecommunicating with the dust and dirt spaces, as described.

4. A cotton lint separating and cleaning apparatus, comprising upper andlower chambers and a communicating channel between the lower portion ofthe upper chamber and the upper portion of the lower chamber, the upperchamber having an upper lint intake and the lower chamber having a lowerlint outlet, each of said chambers having an outer imperforate Wall atone side and an inner perforate wall spaced from the imperforate wall toform a dust and dirt passage therebetween, the said perforate walls ofthe two chambers being curved at opposite sides thereof in relativelyopposite directions, and a dust and dirt discharge pipe communicatingwith the dust and dirt spaces, said chambers being also provided withair outlets and with means to control the air passing therefromrespectively into the lower chamber and through the lint outlet.

5. A lint separating and cleaning machine comprising upper and lowercleaning chambers of which the latter is reduced in size with respect tothe former, said chambers having a connecting channel and providedrespectively with means of ingress and egress for the cotton lint, andsaid chambers having independent air outlets and provided with curvedperforate inner bafiie versely disposed with respect to one an-' other.

6. A lint separating and cleaning machine consisting of a pair ofchambers connected to one another and through which the cotton lint tobe cleaned successively passes, one of said chambers having a lintintake and the other of said chambers having a lint outlet, andperforate bafiie walls within and extending partly around the saidchambers and along which the lint is movable, said baflie Walls of thetwo chambers being curved in relatively opposite directions to reversethe curved plane of movement of the lint to be cleaned, 'for the purposedescribed.

FRANK WYNNE MEYERS. CHARLES LEMUEL CAMPBELL.

H. MOSWEENY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. I i

